Top 10 Racquetball Stories of the Year

2018 has been a big year for racquetball, which made picking a top 10 stories of the year list a bit difficult. This is the 11th time The Racquetball Blog has named its Top Racquetball Stories of the year, and some of the newsmakers have been on past lists, but not the person in the #1 spot!

Top Racquetball Stories of 2018

10. Montserrat Mejia. Mejia and Alexandra Herrera upset Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas in Women’s Doubles at the Mexican qualifying event for the 2018 International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships, so they represented Mexico in Women’s Doubles for the first time at Worlds in Costa Rica, and were the silver medalists. Also, Mejia successfully defended her title in Girl’s U18 Singles at the 2018 IRF World Junior Championships in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where she defeated Gabriela Martinez in the final for the 2nd consecutive year.

9. USA Racquetball. USA Racquetball encountered controversy that landed it in the pages of USA Today, and not in a good way. The exact nature of the events remains unexplained, but included the involvement of the US Center for SafeSport. This led to the release of two staff, including Executive Director Jason Thoerner. The organization is likely still dealing with the aftermath of this, but they have hired Mike Wedel to replace Thoerner as Executive Director. Early indications, including an interview done on The Racquetball Show podcast, suggest Wedel is a good hire.

8. Daniel De La Rosa. De La Rosa won gold for Mexico in Men’s Doubles with Alvaro Beltran at the 2018 IRF World Championships and the pair also won the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) Men’s Doubles division at the US Open. He was also a double gold medalist at the 2018 Central American & Caribbean Games, as De La Rosa won both Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles with Beltran.

7. Valeria Centellas & Yazmine Sabja. This Bolivian pair won Women’s Doubles at the 2018 International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships, and became the first South American team to do so. Both had good years individually also. Centellas, 17, won gold in Girls U16 singles and doubles at the IRF World Junior Championships. 2018 marked Sabja's return to competitive racquetball, as she was playing her first competitions since 2009, and was silver medalist in Women's Singles at the 2018 South American Games.

6. Samantha Salas. Salas ends the year as the #2 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT). She won her 3rd career LPRT title in June, and has been a finalist at the first four events of the 2018-19 season. Also, Salas captured gold for Mexico in Women’s Doubles with Paola Longoria at the 2018 Central American & Caribbean Games.

5. Rodrigo Montoya. Montoya, from Mexico, became the 11th player to win Men’s Singles at the IRF World Championships, when he defeated Charlie Pratt (USA) at the 2018 IRF World Championships in Costa Rica in August. Montoya also won Men’s Doubles at the 2018 Pan American Championships with Alvaro Beltran.

4. Gabriela Martinez. The 19 year old Guatemalan became the first teenager - and 9th woman overall - to win Women’s Singles at the 2018 IRF World Championships in Costa Rica, where she defeated Paola Longoria in the final. Martinez was also silver medalist in singles and doubles (with Maria Renee Rodriguez) at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, and she and Rodriguez were also finalists in Women’s Doubles at the 2018 Pan American Championships, when they beat Longoria and Alexandra Herrera in the preliminary round but lost to them in the final. Martinez also reached the LPRT semi-finals at the US Open for the first time. Overall, it was a great year, but when Martinez was playing her last match as a junior - the final of Girl’s U18 Singles at the 2018 IRF World Junior Championships - she lost to Mexican Monserrat Mejia for the 2nd consecutive year.

3. Paola Longoria. It was a strange year for Longoria, as she had success - she continues to be the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT), won her 9th US Open, and won gold in both singles and doubles at the 2018 Central American & Caribbean Games - but Longoria also lost four singles matches to four different opponents. Four losses in a year would be great for most players, but the bar is much higher for Longoria, who has gone through some years undefeated. She lost a few times in 2017 also, so are we seeing a trend? Or is it that the competition is becoming better? Two of her losses were to younger players (Gabriela Martinez & Maria Jose Vargas), and two were to veterans who have beaten her previously (Rhonda Rajsich & Samantha Salas). Longoria will turn 30 in 2019, so she’s one of the veteran players on the LPRT, but we’re sure there are several good seasons ahead of her.

2. Kane Waselenchuk. Waselenchuk has been on our list of top newsmakers for 11 straight years, because he’s been the best male racquetball player during that period. Has he won all the tournaments he’s entered or has he been the #1 player throughout that period? No, but like Serena Williams over the last two decades of women’s tennis, if Waselenchuk is in the draw, you expect him to win. Waselenchuk dropped a bombshell during his post-match interview in June, when he suggested there was a 90% chance he would retire, but that 10% has come through, and racquetball is all the better for it.

1. Alejandro Landa. Landa’s never been one of our top stories of the year, although he was an honorable mention in 2017, as he won Men’s Singles and Doubles (with Polo Gutierrez) at the 2017 Pan American Championships. But Landa never had a year like he did in 2018. He’s the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT), and a two time winner on tour; only Waselenchuk won more IRT events in 2018 than Landa. Few - if any - people would have seen this coming 12 months ago, so you would have got long odds on it happening, if you were looking to bet on it. But this is one of the great things about sports: the unexpected can happen. Was he helped by circumstances? Sure, but everyone who has success is, and no one gave Landa those titles or the #1 ranking. He earned them, and good on him for doing so.

Honorable mentions: Rhonda Rajsich successfully defended her title in Women’s Singles at the 2018 Pan American Championships in Chile with one of her career best performances in the final, when she defeated Longoria in three games. Rocky Carson was the #1 player on the IRT at the end of the 2017-18 season; while everyone spent so much time speculating on who the next #1 player would be after Waselenchuk, Carson went out and became that guy. Sudsy Monchik won Men’s Doubles with Rocky Carson at the 2018 USA Racquetball Doubles Championships, and were finalists in Men’s Doubles at the 2018 IRF World Championships. Maria Jose Vargas. won her 3rd LPRT title in March, and finished 2018 as the 4th ranked LPRT player; she also won gold for Argentina in Women’s Singles and Doubles (with Natalia Mendez) at the 2018 South American Games.

Overall, 2018 was a great year for racquetball, and we look forward to another great year in 2019, which will be highlighted by the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. If you enjoy The Racquetball Blog tell all your friends, and follow us on Twitter (@racquetballblog) and on Facebook.

Best wishes to you for 2019.

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